This holiday season everyone is looking for a way to save some extra cash. Last week we introduced our Ways to Save Money on Holiday Shopping. Many of these were websites that offer great deals and low prices to help you make the most of your money this holiday season. There are also a wide variety of great apps that can allow you to save money while you are on the go. Check out some of the apps below and get your mobile device and your wallet ready for some holiday shopping.

RetailMeNot- This website was mentioned in our post from last week because of its ability to help you find coupons for your favorite website and enter the coupon code before checking out. There is also a RetailMeNot app available on both Android and Apple devices. The app allows you to find coupons on the go for the stores you are already in. This is a great option for those unexpected holiday shopping sprees where you did not have time to find and print coupons at home. Simply pull up the app while standing in line, find a coupon for the store you are shopping, show the coupon to the cashier on your mobile device during checkout.

SnipSnap- This app is very similar to RetailMeNot allowing you to find coupons and discount codes while you are on the go. The main additional feature that SnipSnap offers is an option for snapping an image of a printed coupon, storing it in your mobile device, and using it while you are out without the worry that you forgot your coupons at home.

RedLaser- The Red Laser app does your comparison shopping for you, saving you time driving around to different stores to find out which one is offering the best deal. Many stores during the holiday season offer price matching which guarantees you the lowest price but still requires a trip back to the store once you find that price. With Red Laser, simply scan a product at the store and the app will give you comparison prices at stores and online.

Lemon- The Lemon app is a great organizational tool for shopping any time of the year. Many times you spend almost as much time returning items after the holidays as you did shopping for them in the first place. Lemon can be used to snap images of your receipts when you make a purchase. If you need to return an item you can retrieve the image, print a copy, and not worry about finding that elusive receipt, The app also tracks your spending giving you a graph to show you how your money is being spent.

Hukkster- The Hukkster app is great for holiday shopping or any major purchases. You simply add which items you are going to be shopping for and Hukkster will update you when those items go on sale. This saves you time running around comparison shopping and the hassle of returning an item because it went on sale at a different store the day after you bought it.

With the holiday shopping season upon us, everyone is budgeting for the season of spending. Finding coupons does not seem to be for everyone with some saying it is a hassle and takes too much time. Sure, shopping with coupons or researching the best deals on items on your shopping list takes time but considering it can help stretch those dollars and get you more for your dollar. Each person needs to evaluate how much your time is worth to know how much time to dedicate to finding the best deals. Besides coupons the internet offers a wide variety of other options that can help you in your efforts to save you the most money this holiday season. Check out the list of websites below to find some unexpected ways to complete your holiday shopping list.

1.Groupon, Living Social, and other daily deal sites- While most people are familiar with daily deal sites because the promotions on local activities and restaurants, they also offer deals on goods such as jewelry, clothing, electronics and toys. The deals change frequently so check the sites often or you can sign up for Yipit.com to receive emails that include a variety of deals from several daily deals sites.

2.Nomorerack.com- This website offers big discounts on brand name items. While they have hundreds of items for sale every day, they offer around ten big discounted items each day that can be clothing, jewelry, electronics or a variety of other items.

3.Retailmenot.com- Before making any purchase online you should visit Retailmenot.com and search for available coupon codes for that website. Find a coupon code and return to the site you were shopping with and enter the code at checkout.

4.Ebates.com- Online shoppers should be well aware of the benefits of ebates. Create an account and then every time you need to do some online shopping start by visiting ebates.com. The drop down menu will offer the list of websites to choose from. Each website will show the percentage back being offered for that website. Make your purchase through Ebates and you will receive that percentage back on your purchase. You can even buy Groupons through the ebates website. You get a $5 bonus for signing up.

5.Freeshipping.org- Online shoppers should rarely need to pay for shipping. Many retailers offer free shipping now regardless of the spending limit. If you find an item on a website that does not offer free shipping check Freeshipping.org to find coupon codes that will save you money on shipping.

The term Cyber Monday is used across the United States to describe the Monday following Thanksgiving where online businesses offer deals to consumers in order to encourage online spending. While Black Friday deals lure customers into the stores, Cyber Monday offers deals for those not willing to stand in long lines or fight the crowds. The official term came about in 2005 when a website, Shop.org, produced a survey showing that the Monday after Thanksgiving was a high sales day for online businesses. The title of the press release along with the survey used the term “Cyber Monday” and it has stuck ever since. With Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday all on one long holiday weekend, businesses can often offer different deals to fit each of these days, benefiting from them all. So as a consumer, how you can you benefit from shopping on Cyber Monday? Check out the tips and infographic below from Coupons.com

Electronics are great items to buy on Cyber Monday with many websites offering deals on TV’s, smartphones and Apple products.

On the other hand laptops, bikes and jewelry are not usually good deals during Cyber Monday. Bikes usually go on sale in January while the best deals on laptops can be found around back-to-school time.

There may be decent deals on clothing and home goods if you need something specific for a holiday gift but if you are just shopping for yourself you are better off waiting for the after Christmas sales.

Don’t pay for shipping in most cases. Many websites offer free shipping, sometimes with a spending limit. If you find an item you like and can not find a coupon code for free shipping from sites like Coupons.com then try finding it on another website that does offer free shipping

Read up on Cyber Monday deals ahead of time and make a list. Many of the best deals will go fast. Take notice of when the deals start such as midnight of Cyber Monday. You may even be able to create an account and add items to your shopping bag the day before then wait until the sale goes live to receive the discounted price before checking out.

Don’t always believe the hype about items selling out before Christmas. You may be able to get a lower price by waiting.

To get the best deals, research the best Cyber Monday sales, make a list, use free shipping, and use coupon codes on top of the sale. You can also buy discounted gift cards for retailers ahead of time from a variety of websites and save even more by using them to make your purchase.

Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.

Black Friday will be arriving this week after a day of food and family, but one thing that may be different this year is that many stores are starting Black Friday on Thursday evening. While this brings up a debate regarding making employees work on Thanksgiving, will consumers still go out in droves to get those great deals when the stores open?

Black Friday drives consumers into stores by advertising early-bird specials and doorbusters that offer a limited number of an item at a very low price. However, once consumers are in the stores, retailers hope they will be buying more than what they came for. Many Black Friday shoppers hit the stores because of the great deals but many also do it just for the fun and excitement. For consumers who do not find thrills on fighting the crowds and standing in lines, there is Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday offers great deals online for those who prefer to shop from the comfort of their home. How do these two most popular shopping days compare? Are you a Black Friday shopper, Cyber Monday shopper, or both? Check out the infographic below for some shopping statistics.

307 million people shopped in brick and mortar stores during Black Friday 2012

14% of shoppers used a mobile device to shop on Cyber Monday 2012

57% of Black Friday shoppers bought clothing and accessories

40% of Black Friday shoppers bought cd`s, books, and video games

38% of Black Friday shoppers bought electronics

35% of Black Friday shoppers bought toys

Department stores were the most popular place to shop for Black Friday with 53% of shoppers

57% of people enjoy getting out and fighting the crowds on Black Friday

The estimated amount of holiday spending between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is 59 billion

For the month of November we have been focusing on the importance of shopping with small businesses and this coming Small Business Saturday this November 30th. And while small businesses nationwide will be focusing efforts on bringing in customers this coming Saturday, many businesses nationwide are looking forward to this coming Friday, often known as Black Friday.

Black Friday is the official start of the holiday shopping season and is usually the busiest shopping day of the year. Shoppers have viewed Thanksgiving as the start to the holiday shopping season for almost a century. When bigger department stores began taking advantage of this, they enjoyed hosting parades which brought about the big Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade which has been running in New York City since 1924. Newspapers began using the phrase “BlackFriday” in reference to this shopping day in the late 1960s in reference to the crowds at stores. Later the term stuck, using the explanation that the stores went from “red” to “black” in reference to accounting sheets where black represents a profit. Since then the term “Black Friday” has been used and has grown in popularity and a become an unofficial holiday. Of course, bigger retail chains are generating a profit long before November but they offer great deals come Black Friday that can add billions to their profits. Years ago stores began opening around 6am the morning of Black Friday with lines forming hours before that. Several of the bigger retailers then moved opening time up to 4 or 5 am. In 2011 most bigger chains moved to opening at midnight and in 2012 a few even decided to open at 8 or 9pm. While disputed in many states because of the fact that employees then have to work on Thanksgiving, crowds still gathered to start their shopping.

Most consumers shop Black Friday because of the great deals that can be found while others do it purely for the thrill. While the newspaper ads focus consumer attention on the bigger retail stores, many local businesses offer deals on Black Friday as well. Whether you shop Black Friday or Small Business Saturday, remember to put some of those consumer dollars back into your local small businesses.

If you are involved in the small business world, surely by now you are aware of the upcoming Small Business Saturday this November 30th. Small Business Saturday offers the small business community a chance to leverage the benefits of shopping locally and encourage their communities to shop local. All small businesses should be using the day to promote their business to some degree but how can you maximize the benefits of Small Business Saturday for your business? Besides using all of the resources available to them on the American Express Shop Small website, be sure you are taking advantage of all the great benefits from the premier sponsors of Small Business Saturday including USPS, Fedex Office, Foursquare, and Twitter. Besides all of those resources there are other things you can be doing as well. If you are on Twitter, take advantage of all of the tweets going out with the hashtag #SmallBizSat. Join in, tweeting promotions for both Small Business Saturday as well as your business and you may gain followers both online and offline. Think of ways you may be able to partner with other small businesses to offer promotions or in-store events that can drive in even more customers come November 30th. Reach out to local media and bloggers to showcase your small business as a highlight of Small Business Saturday.
Another way to become more active in preparation for Small Business Saturday is to join in a neighborhood circle on MightyBell. Mighty Bell is an online community that you can participate in to gain ideas and share resources to prepare for Small Business Saturday. You can find other local small business owners who are looking to partner up and support one another for the event. You can collaborate by sharing ideas or by creating a local event or promotion together. In order to get started you must sign up for an account on Open Forum, register for Mighty Bell and you can then either join an existing neighborhood circle or create a new one to get started. Remember that all of this effort you put into Small Business Saturday will hopefully gain new consumers for your business for not just a single day but for a lifetime.

Kabbage, a company that delivers small business financing, offers some insight into the optimism small businesses are hoping for this coming holiday season. In fact, this infographic shares that the majority of small businesses have reason to be optimistic about spending this holiday season because 2013 has already outperformed 2012 for most. Because 44% of small businesses sell the most during the holidays, this time of year can make or break many small businesses. Make sure you support your local businesses this coming holiday season to build a stronger community as well as a stronger economy for the entire nation.

8 out of 10 businesses expect this coming holiday season to be better than 2012( 41% believe it will be much stronger, 39% believe it will be better, 16% believe it will be about the same, 4% believe it will be weaker)

38% of small businesses sell consistently throughout the year

44% of small businesses sell the most during holiday season

For 7 out of 10 small businesses, 2013 is already out-performing 2012(37% are up by more than 20%, 39% are up 5-20%, 12% are even with 2012, 11% are down 5-20%, 1% are down more than 20%)

Almost two thirds of small businesses plan to seek more financing in 2013 than in 2012

Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.

FedExOffice is offering free marketing materials for your small business to help you promote for Small Business Saturday. To take advantage of the offer from FedEx Office, you just need to create your marketing campaign, download the printable signage, and select a FedEx Office location near you to pick up two professional-quality 11″x17″ posters at no charge. Get started creating your personalized marketing materials over at AmericanExpress.com.

The United States Postal Service is another premier sponsor of Small Business Saturday. They are providing shipping for Shop Small branded merchandise. This merchandise can be ordered by small business owners on ShopSmall.com. Volunteers who will be assisting as Neighborhood Champions can also get their activations kits shipped for free. In addition to the free shipping on materials, USPS will be promoting Small Business Saturdayusing direct mail and on USPS.com.

The fourth premier sponsor of Small Business Saturday is Foursquare. Those of you involved in social media will be familiar with their free app. The app helps you share and save the places you visit. They also give recommendations and deals based on where you have been. Foursquare is supportive of small businesses and for Small Business Saturday they are offering $50 in Foursquare Ad credits through December 31st (while supplies last) to help drive customers into your business. Foursquare is also using their app to promote Small Business Saturday with a custom button that will help encourage people by recommending small businesses nearby. You must have a Foursquare account (or sign up for one), create a Foursquare ad for your business and then turn the ad on to be credited the $50. Visit the Foursquare Shop Small website to find out more.

Here at Money Momma we have been talking about the importance of the American small business and upcoming Small Business Saturday. There are many different ways we can all support small businesses this coming Small Business Saturday and throughout the holiday season. As individuals we can shop small businesses, encourage others to shop small and even volunteer. As a small business owner you should be taking full advantage of this day and the support it generates.

Twitter happens to be one of the premier partners for Small Business Saturday. To help small businesses out and assist in promoting Small Business Saturday, Twitter is now offering $100 in free Twitter advertising. Twitter is giving $1 million in free advertising credits, $100 to each eligible business so head over there now and fill out the form to see if you are eligible before it is gone. In order to be eligible you must have a business Twitter account, a United States billing address and never have advertised on Twitter previously. If your business has more than one Twitter account, you must register each account separately. There are two different ways you can use the $100 credit. The credit can be used towards a promoted account which means your Twitter account would show up in search results and in “Who to follow” recommendations gaining you more followers who may be interested in you and your brand. You can target your audience geographically, by gender or by interest. You are only charged or deducted from your credit when people decide to follow, not just when your account appears in the listing. You can also use your credit using promoted tweets. You choose what tweets are the most important and use your credit towards promoting those tweets. You can choose to target Twitter users by keywords in timeline, interest, geography and device. The promoted tweets appear in search results and user timelines. You can use this to excite current followers, gain new followers, or promote a specific event or promotion. If you are elgibible for the $100 credit you will also receive a free tool kit fro Twitter to help you get your business ready. To find more about the other premier partners for Small Business Saturday including United States Postal Service, 4 Square and Fedex, visit the Small Business Saturday partner page.

Small Business Saturday is coming up in a few weeks and we have been focusing on the importance of small businesses in preparation for that. There are many reasons to shop small business and their success affects the local community, city, state and the country. Remember, small businesses make up about half of the national GDP along with employing half the workforce. Figures show that small businesses create 75 percent of the new jobs in our economy. Because the success of small business is so important to our country, many studies are done gathering statistics to give us all a picture of how the small business world is doing. Bank of America is one of the financial institutions that performs a semi-annual study to show concerns, aspirations and perspectives of small business owners. The facts and infographic below from Bank of America gives us a better picture of how small business owners are doing this year both personally and financially. The survey also showed that small business owners not only look after their health but contribute to the health and happiness of their employees as well. Small business owners shared that while they feel optimistic about the health of their business but cautious about the future of the economy.

53% small business owners rate their health as better as a result of running a small business

35% of small business owners exercise more because of being a SBO

29% of small business owners feel they eat healthier

57% of small business owners feel they handle the stress of running a business well

72% of small business owners work more than 40 hours a week

In the past year 54% of small business owners went to work even though they were sick

87% of SBO’s expect revenue to increase or stay the same within the next year

86% of SBO’s expect to hire more employees or retain the same number within the next year

Millenials are the most optimistic about the economy and the future of their business

SBO’s leading concerns about the success of their small business include recovery of consumer spending and consumer confidence

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About Me

Irené Waldman worked 11 years for Visa, before working at Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines, part of the world’s leading alcohol beverage company and is now a marketing consultant working with high profile financial services companies, in addition to collaboration with marketing companies focused on loyalty.